​8 Things to Do Before You Organize Your Garage

by Susan McCarthy

​Everyday practice: Is the way a space is being used the way you want it to be used?

Although a garage is intended to be the place to store your car, too often it becomes a catch-all for things that you don’t want in your house but haven’t decided to get rid of. A garage also becomes a home to tools and gardening supplies, as well as recreational and sports equipment and toys.

It’s all too easy to pile more stuff on top of other stuff until 1) you can’t remember what you have stored in those inaccessible boxes or 2) you know what’s in the garage, but you can’t find it (or don’t want to go looking for it) and so it becomes easier to buy new items to “replace” what you already own.

Get Ready to Organize Your Garage

1. Identify who will help you. Will you rally the troops for a day or two, empty the garage, and only put back what you know you need and use? Will you work 15-to-30-minutes a day, every day (give or take), emptying a box or a shelf a day until you are done? Neither routine is better than the other; it depends on your energy level and the time you have available to devote to the task.
2. Identify a goal for the garage. What’s your goal for the garage? Do you want to park your cars there? Will you convert part of the space to a workshop? What do you want to store in this space?
3. Gather supplies. Will trash bags and boxes suffice for sorting, donating, and tossing items or do you need to rent a Dumpster or use a Bagster to cart away larger quantities of stuff? (If items have been affected by moisture or mold, you won’t be able to sell or donate them.)
4. Avoid buying anything before you declutter. Why buy stuff for stuff you’re just going to get rid of? Decide that you won’t buy any shelves, bins, cabinets, hooks, or other organizing gadgets until after you’ve decluttered and can see what you’re keeping.
5. Get ready for a yard sale. Will you hold a yard sale? If yes, you’ll save time if you organize things by category now (kitchen, clothing, toys, books, knickknacks, etc.) Oh, and set a date for your yard sale so you stay motivated to finish before that day … and so you don’t hold onto stuff that you’ve decided to get rid of because you’ll hold a yard sale “someday.”
6. Create a simple plan of action. How will you work through the garage? My suggestion – start by the door and excavate your way into the space. It isn’t necessary to empty the space and then sort through the items. Sort and toss as you pull items from the garage. Check out Decluttering those Overwhelming Storage Spaces for ways to stay focused, no matter how daunting the project.  
7. Decide if you want to continue storing things for others. If you’ve been storing items for someone, do you want them to pick up their stuff? Give them a call now to schedule a time for them to get their belongings. If they say they don’t want the items, tell them that you will toss or donate the items by a certain date. If they want you to continue to store the items, go back to your goal for the garage and ask yourself if meeting their request will prevent you from getting what you want from your garage. Unless they are paying you a storage fee (and even then), you aren’t obligated to hold onto the items indefinitely.
8. Decide the best place for sentimental items. Do you know if you have family heirlooms or sentimental items stored in your garage? Consider that this is not the best way to honor these items and that you’ve already been distancing yourself from these items by tucking them out of the way. If you start the decluttering process already having decided that these items aren’t a part of your current life, you’ll know what to do with them when you find them.

Set up zones for storing things in your garage – that corner for tools, another for yard and garden supplies, a space for toys and another for sports and recreation equipment. Once you have a clear idea what you want from this space, it will be easier to see where to store things.

Only after decluttering do you want to consider if the items can best be stored in bins on shelves, hanging from a pegboard, or kept in a cabinet. Focus on making the items easy to retrieve when you want to use them and you’ll make good organizing choices.​

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